Moab or Tucson?

Neither city has a beach, and both are a long way from the sea. Moab at least has river sandbars, Ken's Lake and the shallow pools of Mill Creek for a cold summer dip, though the Colorado's current needs care. Tucson's swimming happens almost entirely in hotel and resort pools, with Sabino Canyon's pools appearing only after rain and the Gulf of California four hours away in Mexico.

Tucson has a cuisine of its own and Moab does not. Sonoran Mexican cooking, from paper-thin flour tortillas to menudo and cheese crisps, is worth seeking out along South 12th Avenue and in the older barrios, and desert ingredients such as tepary beans and prickly pear give menus a local character.

Moab's Main Street is about refuelling: burgers, tacos, pizza, a couple of breweries and a few more ambitious Southwestern dinners. It is relaxed and filling, but choice shrinks in winter and the queues build on busy spring and autumn evenings.

Tucson has the far deeper set of sights. Mission San Xavier del Bac, with its gilded painted interior, the adobe streets of Barrio Viejo and El Presidio, the Arizona State Museum's Native American collections and the huge aircraft collection at Pima Air & Space fill two or three days.

Moab's town offers a morning at most, with the small Museum of Moab and some uranium-boom buildings. Its real heritage is out on the cliffs: Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont petroglyphs along Potash Road and Kane Creek, and dinosaur trackways nearby.

Tucson offers a real night out, if a modest one: student dive bars and patios on Fourth Avenue, cocktail bars and a few dance floors on Congress Street, all walkable between the two. In Moab, a couple of brewpubs fill with bikers and rafters and the town goes quiet by eleven, so the best thing to do after dark is look up at the stars.

Both are superb desert bases, but Moab is in a class of its own. Arches is minutes from town, the canyon maze of Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point is under an hour away, and the mountain biking, river running, canyoneering and jeep trails draw people from around the world.

Tucson answers with saguaro forests on both sides of the city, trails in Sabino Canyon and Catalina State Park, and the drive up Mount Lemmon from cactus into pine. It is strong on road cycling and birdwatching in the sky island ranges, and its outdoor season runs through winter, when Moab's trails are cold.

Tucson has proper places to visit within a day. Bisbee's Victorian mining streets, Wild West Tombstone, the artists' village of Tubac with the Tumacácori mission ruins, the Sonoita wineries and Biosphere 2 give real variety, even if none is a major destination.

From Moab, the outings are mostly more landscape. The towns nearby are small, and the most rewarding cultural trip, south to Edge of the Cedars in Blanding and the towers of Hovenweep, takes up a long day of driving.

Tucson gives families more to work with, especially between October and April. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Reid Park Zoo, the Children's Museum, the planetarium and the old western film set with stunt shows cover the days when small children need a break from hiking.

Moab suits active school-age children who love scrambling over rock, with short walks to Sand Dune Arch, dinosaur tracks, gentle river floats and Junior Ranger programmes. The unfenced drops, summer heat and lack of anything built for children make it harder with toddlers.

Plan on a car in both. Tucson at least has the Sun Link streetcar linking downtown, Fourth Avenue and the university, plus slow buses and easy parking, though its main sights sit on the city's edges. Moab has a walkable Main Street and a bike path to the Arches entrance, but beyond that there is no public transport, and without a vehicle you rely on outfitters' shuttles; a high-clearance car opens up the backcountry.

Tucson is the better place to buy something to take home: Native American jewellery, Tohono O'odham baskets and Mexican folk art in old-town galleries, vintage shops on Fourth Avenue, and the winter gem and mineral show that fills the city with dealers. Moab's Main Street is practical, with good bike and climbing shops, rock shops selling geodes and fossils, and a few galleries with Navajo weavings.

Tucson is the easier city on the budget. Mid-range hotels are reasonable for the Southwest, taquerías and hot dog stands keep meals cheap, and summer brings easy bargains, though the gem show and the winter season push rates up.

Moab's limited rooms charge resort rates in spring and autumn, and rafting, jeep tours and car hire add up quickly. It saves money mainly for campers, with cheap public campgrounds, free dispersed camping and free hikes, and in winter, when prices drop.

Tucson has a regular season, chiefly from autumn to spring: the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Arizona Opera, the Arizona Theatre Company, touring shows at Centennial Hall, concerts at the restored Fox Theatre and a deep mariachi tradition. Moab has no theatre or concert hall, but its late-summer chamber music festival, with concerts in canyon grottoes reached by boat, is a memorable one-off.

Tucson is a natural choice for rest, with long-established destination spas in the Catalina foothills and towards Oracle offering massage, meditation and desert walks, and resort pools facing the mountains. There are no public baths, so wellness here means a resort stay.

Moab is built for exertion, with only a few small massage studios for tired riders. Its calm comes from the desert itself, red cliffs at sunset and very dark skies, and those wanting real quiet head for a ranch or a cabin in the La Sals.